Jays give this one away. Rolen is missed already

Toronto v Oakland. Game one of three.

Starts with the news that Rolen has been traded to Cincinatti. What a shame… he was having such a great year and brought so much to Jays. Well, proof will be in Encarnacinon, had a wrist fracture this season, will that have any effect? Two more pitchers but nothing great. Roenicke and Stewart.

Lineups: Toronto: Scutaro, Hill, Lind, Millar, Wells, Rios, Bautista, Barajas, McDonald and Richmond pitching. Pretty sad lineup tonight without Rolen and Overbay in there, Johnny Mc is no replacement for Rolen. After the first three !!! nothing much tonight, what a state of affairs…. If ever a time for Wells and Rios to get it together it is now. Too bad JP could not trade those two, but no one is going to want either and with their overblown salaries to boot.
Oakland: Kennedy, Davis, Suzuki, Cust, Sweeney, Everidge, Patterson, Ellis, Pennington and Braden pitching.

The very good: Scutaro 3-3, Lind 3-4, Hill 2-3. Top three in order. That’s says it all tonight. No Rolen to make a fourth.
The good: Jays fight back for four to make it closer.
The bad: Defence and pitching…. Awful defensive display and including McDonald. Rios his bat and glove tonight. Vernon, keeps sinking lower and lower. Needs a complete overhaul with his bat. Richmond obviously not ready yet for bigtime and Tallet had one of his nights to forget.

The very, very bad: Defensive errors, three of them Rios, Millar and yes Johnny Mc huge error.

Top 1st: Scutaro, singles through the gap into right, Hill lifts it into shallow centre, great running diving catch by Davis. Lind with one down and one on. Pops it up into shallow left for Patterson, two down for Millar. This is where Jays lineup starts to look AAA. Pops it up to Ellis at second.
Bottom 1st: Richmond now, what does he have after his injury? Kennedy leading off. Full count, lines out to Wells in centre, one down for Davis, full count, walks him. Suzuki, lines it to right, Rios drops the ball. Right through his glove… If the sun were in his eyes, where are his shades? No just Alex being Alex, error on the play. He really can’t do much right these days, but no way will Cito bench him. Cust with two in scoring position, fouling off pitch after pitch here. Full count. Now he gets him but at huge pitch count. Close to 30 pitches already. Sweeney two on two down. Singles up the middle 2-0 Oakland. Richmond does not have much tonight, Cito will be in the bullpen sooner than later. Everidge, 3-1 count. Pops it up to Millar for third out, but so far not a good sign for Jays. Richmond has nothing and his defence is certainly not helping him in right field. 37 yes 37 pitches. Let’s see if he can give four innings and bring in Tallet for four.

Top 2nd: Wells, first pitch ???? No he takes it. Wide outside. And takes two. Can’t resist this one , pops up to shallow left, one down for Rios. First pitch ??? no. 2-0 pops up foul to Everidge at first. Two down six pitches. Bautista, 3-1 grounds to short throw to first far too easy for Oakland tonight. Did Richmond even get to sit?
Bottom 2nd: Patterson showing bunt, takes it. Strikes out. Ellis, doubles to right field corner. Pennington, singles to right. I might revise my projections for Richmond lasting even four tonight. These are the bottom two of the order. Kennedy for second at bat. Ellis at third, Pennington at first one down. Pops it up to shallow right for Rios to run onto and make second out. Davis, singles to left, run scores 3-0 Oakland. Suzuki, with Pennington at third. Fly ball to centre right for third out but Oakland has another and lead this one 3-0. 57 pitches for two innings. He might just get four in.

Top 3rd: Meantime where are Jays bats? Barajas leading off. Braden by the way, 28 pitches for two innings. I think that says it all. 3-0 count to Barajas, golfs it to right. One down for Johnny Mc. He has a .297 average almost 50 points higher than Vernon. I bet he loves telling Vernon that. Pops this one up to Davis running in from centre, two down for Scutaro has the only hit for Jays tonight. There is number two as he lines this one into left. Hill, yes Aaron, doubles into centre right and Scutaro motoring all the way from first to score, 3-1 with Lind at bat. Singles into right, Hill held at third wise decision this throw is right on the money he would have been out. Sweeney has an arm. Millar, with two down and two on. 2-2, Kevin gives this one a long ride to centre but Davis has it for third out. Jays at least on the board and showing some life in the corpse.
Bottom 3rd: Richmond now has to hold them here as Jays bats (at least the top three) are showing some life. Cust leading off. 2-2. Full count. Walks him after going 0-2. Not good. Sweeney, pops up to Bautista in shallow left, one down for Everidge, singles up the middle. Two on, one down for Patterson. Singles up the middle, run scores 4-1. Ellis, now Tallet is up in bullpen. Grounds to Scutaro, on to Hill throw to Millar, double play ball. Easy Richmond, why not more ground balls we ask???? 80 pitches, might get one more in for the four. Ouch, not what Jays expected tonight from their starter.

Top 4th: Well we don’t expect anything from the next two hitter s Wells and Rios, so anything other than two “first pitch” outs will be a bonus. Wells pops up to left, one down. Rios, lines out to left, but to be fair that is six pitches combined. Bautista, with two down, he must hate hitting behind these two. Might be an idea Cito to split them up …. Strikes out on three. Oh boy can these guys get any worse ??? Braden have a great time tonight.
Bottom 4th: Someone who is not having a good time Richmond on 80 pitches. The value of having Tallet in bullpen. He can eat up the rest. Pennington, number nine leading off. 3-1 count. Walks him. Cito still sitting in his corner. Kennedy doubles into left corner. Now Cito gets out there, always just that one or two pitches too late. Tallet in to put out the fire. Nobody out and two in scoring position. Richmond may have needed another one or two games rehab at AAA. Definitely not there yet. Davis, singles to left, goes to second on throw run scores 5-1, runner held at third. Suzuki, grounds to Hill, looks runner back at third and throw to first for out. One down. Cust, 3-0, Tallet’s weakness the walk. Putting him on now. Sweeney, 2-0, 3-0, there’s a strike, full count, walks him and a run, 6-1 Oakland, bases stay loaded. For Everidge, grounds to Scutaro throw to hill, Sweeney on top of him and unable to turn two. Two down run scores 7-1 Oakland and already in a blowout, for Patterson. On it goes grounds to Millar, fumbles the ball and cannot get it to first for the out. Run scores 8-1. Cito where is Overbay at first ? With Rolen and Overbay out, Jays defence now suffering also. Strikes out, but once again Jays pitchers hobbled by their defence.

Top 5th: Let’s see if Jays have any guts tonight ? or are they rolling over ? Jays pitchers have thrown 116 pitches tonight against the 58 of Braden. Ouch bigtime. Bottom of the order for Jays. Barajas. Fly ball to right. One down. McDonald, grounds to shirt, throw to first, two down. Scutaro 2-2 tonight. Full count. Doubles to centre, 3-3 but he can’t score nine runs himself. Hill, Inglett pinch running, is Scutaro limping there? Hill 3-0 and walks on four pitches, two on two down for Lind. Singles to centre, Inglett scores, 8-2. Hill to third. Millar lots to redeem here Kevin. Not like that, he is a Cito player, first pitch fly ball to right. Another airhead play with two on and Hill at third.
Bottom 5th: All the changes, Inglett in left, Bautista at third and Johnny Mc at short. Pennington lines to Johnny Mc nice leaping catch. Kennedy fly ball to left two down. Davis walks him. Too good to be true to get three up and down. Suzuki, strikes out swinging. First scoreless inning for Oakland. That’s a start.

Top 6th: Wells leading off, hitless and hopeless. He is so lucky he is not in Toronto hearing the boos. Lines out to Davis. One down for Rios even worse tonight, lines out to Davis. Two down for Bautista, Jays have six hits all from the top three in the order. Go figure. Lines out to left. Three up and down.
Bottom 6th: Cust, singles up the middle. Sweeney, grounds to McDonald and so it goes on, Johnny Mc. fumbles the ball, yes you heard right. That was an easy double play, both players safe. What more can go wrong here? Three errors on the night by Jays. Everidge, full count, Fly ball to Rios, he actually catches it, runner Cust tags and moves to third on play, but one down. Patterson, strikes out.Carlson up in bullpen. Two down, two on for Ellis, grounds to Millar for third out, no damage done by that McDonald error. Two scoreless innings but of no value if Jays cannot score either.

Top 7th: Bottom of the order Barajas, Braden on 90 pitches. Pops it up first pitch to Patterson, one down for McDonald. Grounds up the middle throw to first, two down for Inglett. Hit by pitch, any way you can Joe, they all count. Hill with two down and one on. Hill doubles to centre wall, Inglett scores 8-3 Jays. Inglett must love getting on ahead of Aaron, that is twice tonight. Lind with Hill at second. 100 pitches for Braden. Full count. I wonder when Wells and Rios last had full counts? Oh Adam, gets hold of this one, home run high on centre wall. That one is still travelling if the wall did not stop it, a Lind special and Jays are not quite cooked 8-5. Lind and Scutaro both with three hits tonight. That’s it for Braden, he also hit the wall at 106 pitches. Millar to face Springer, finally, a hit, singles to centre. This should be interesting, Wells at bat, is he ever overdue for a big hit. Sad really to see a good player go downhill like this. Strikes out. 0-4 tonight and average at .253.
Bottom 7th: Jays are at least back in this thing. Can pitchers hold them here for another two? Carlson now pitching, Pennington leading off. Grounds to McDonald, no error here throw to Millar for the out. Kennedy, strikes out swinging, two down for Davis, on base four times, not this time friend, grounds to McDonald nice play and great throw to get him at first. Three up and down for Carlson, he does his job.

Top 8th: Leading off Rios. Also 0-3 and a bad error, not a good night for him, or season for that matter. Chance here to do something. Ziebler now pitching, sidearm, Alex lines out (first pitch) to right, one down and Alex 0-4 tonight. Bautista, grounds to short, Pennington quick throw but gets there in time. Two down for Barajas, also hitless, 2-0 count, full count, gets hold of this one doubles to left centre wall. One on for McDonald. Just get on base here Johnny. Takes third strike. Another chance wasted.
Bottom 8th: Camp now pitching. Suzuki, bounces to Bautista at third, throw high pulls Millar off bag, Cust, with Suzuki at first walks, two on not outs for Sweeney. Camp missing now, 2-0, fly ball to Inglett in left, one down Suzuki to third on throw. Everidge, that’s better, grounds to Hill on to McDonald back to Millar at first, double play ball to get Camp out of this one and give Jays one more chance here.

Top 9th: Top of Jays order, Inglett leading off. Bailey 13/17 saves this season. Fly ball to Patterson in left, one down for Hill, 2-3 tonight. fly ball to Sweeney in right, two down. Lind last chance for Jays. Adam 3-4 tonight. Full count. Strikes out.